Engaged Scholarship for Working Professionals

Our doctoral program is founded on the conviction that theory and practice go hand-in-hand and that our most essential research questions arise from integrating professional experiences and scholarship. Approach your research with a multidisciplinary perspective, integrating science, policy, humanities, education, and service to pursue sustainable solutions to pressing local, national and international environmental challenges.

Program Overview

In this program, you’ll engage in coursework and seminars with a diverse and supportive group of students and faculty whose experience and wide-ranging interests will augment your own. Specialize in the research area for which you have a passion and apply the theories and methods best suited to your research interests.

Study with faculty who bridge disciplinary and methodological boundaries, who model the integration of scholarship and practice, who emphasize the role of service, and who are recognized locally, nationally, and internationally.

Environmental Studies integrates a wide range of concepts and ideas and embraces multiple methodological approaches to understanding and solving critical and emerging environmental challenges. The current areas of research interest and expertise among ES PhD students and faculty overlap significantly and intentionally, and indicate the richness of content, dialog, scholarship, and practice in our program.

The following illustrate the research areas of our students and faculty:

Ecology and Conservation Biology

Environmental Decision-Making, Policy, and Governance

Environmental Humanities

Environmental and Social Justice

Environmental, Sustainability, and Science Education

Food and the Environment

Resilience, Climate and Environmental Change

Cohort-Based Doctoral Program Delivery

The doctoral program in Environmental Studies is a 69-credit program that can be completed in 4-5 years.

Environmental studies doctoral students complete four phases of the program with their cohorts. Each phase spans approximately a year. In the first two phases, students are required to attend classes for an 8-day summer intensive during the first two years of the program. They are also required to attend classes on campus four weekends (Friday – Sunday) during the fall semester and four weekends during the spring semester of the first phase of the program; three weekends in the fall and three in the spring of the second phase; and two weekends each fall and spring semester in the third and fourth phases of the program. These doctoral weekends typically fall on the first or second weekend of each month.

The cohort model offers exposure to classmates’ research, sparking collaboration and innovation. Students and faculty remain engaged in each other’s work via online communication tools, which enables pathways for resources, support and critique that often results in lifelong bonds of friendship and collegiality.

Doctoral Curriculum

The program also requires weekly online work to supplement class time on campus. Students have a maximum limit of ten years from the date of entry to complete all degree requirements, including the dissertation, and 69 semester-hour credits beyond a Master’s. Students must complete the Candidacy Exam and successfully defend their Dissertation Proposal before admission to the Dissertation Phase. All of the courses described are required courses unless otherwise indicated. Required courses are listed under each competency area:

Phase 1 - Foundation Courses (18 credits)

The initial phase of AUNE’s doctoral program in environmental studies instills the foundations of interdisciplinary environmental studies and scholarship through intensive, integrative, theoretically oriented courses. Topics include research design, ecological thought, applied ecological analysis, global environmental change, political economy and sustainability, and environmental history.

Summer Semester: 8 day intensive

Fall Semester: 4 weekends

Spring Semester: 4 weekends

Required courses:

Introduction to Research Design

Ecological Thought

Comparative Ecological Analysis

Global Environmental Change

Political Economy and Sustainability

Environmental History

Phase 2 - Research Strategies and Learning Domains (24 credits)

The program’s second phase includes a series of seminars about scientific research where students focus on methodologies, literature, and theoretical frameworks to guide their research interests. They discuss their work with leading scholars and writers and learn how others frame and execute their research. Students also design and complete four individual “learning domain” courses, each with an individual mentor, that allows them to focus and deepen their knowledge and research skills in their specific area of future dissertation research.

Phase 3 – Candidacy (9 credits)

During the candidacy phase (or the dissertation phase), students complete a service learning seminar and project related to their academic goals. This phase also focuses on preparation to pass a qualifying exam in the form of writing an integrated essay about their area of research interests and completion of their dissertation proposals. The timing and sequence of the candidacy phase will vary for each student depending on her or his own pace.

Summer Semester: 8-day intensive (optional)

Fall Semester: 2 weekends

Spring Semester: 2 weekends

Required courses:

Doctoral Qualifying Exam

Dissertation Proposal Seminar *

Service Learning Seminar*

* May be taken the previous year in the program with permission of advisor and instructor.

Phase 4 – The Dissertation Process (18 credits)

During the fourth and final phase of the program, students participate in seminars designed to support all aspects of the dissertation process. They design and conduct original research and analyses that have direct social, environmental, political, and educational impacts. Finally, they write their doctoral dissertation.

Summer Semester: 8-day intensive (optional)

Fall Semester: 2 weekends

Spring Semester: 2 weekends

Required courses:

Service Learning Project *

Dissertation Seminar

Doctoral Dissertation

* May be taken the previous year in the program with permission of advisor and instructor.

Backgrounds, Goals, and Outcomes

Students who pursue AUNE’s PhD in Environmental Studies are united by the desire to research and move forward crucial environmental issues. They have diverse academic, professional, and personal experiences that add value to the comprehensive curriculum. Our students’ and graduates’ backgrounds include:

Academic and Research Positions. Field biologists and conservation biologists who enter this program typically have extensive practical experience and have worked for state, federal, nonprofit, and non-governmental organizations in the US and abroad. They frequently seek positions in academic settings or research institutions after earning their PhD.

Advanced Environmental Scholarship and Research. Environmentalists with significant work experience pursue this program to grow both academically and professionally. They are reflective practitioners interested in furthering their scholarship and research.

New Approaches. Independent scholars, outdoor or adventure educators, therapists, social workers, writers, and artists interested in the psycho-spiritual aspects of environmental studies pursue this program to develop new approaches to learning, teaching, healing, and organizational change.

Admissions

Application Deadline

Antioch University New England processes applications for most programs on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply as early as possible. All application materials should be received in Admissions by the dates listed below. If you have any questions, please contact the Admissions Department.

Interview with a faculty member of the department to which you seek entry if selected. This can be in person, by phone, or via Skype.

Master’s and Certificate Programs do not require the GRE or any other standardized test for admissions. We consider all of your application materials, and evaluate your academic potential in a variety of ways.

All application materials submitted become part of an applicant’s file and cannot be returned.

Criteria

As a graduate school providing doctoral level education, Antioch University New England assesses each applicant’s academic experience and promise, personal and interpersonal competence, and professional experience and promise. Our aim is to attract a talented, committed student body, marked by professional, ethnic, and cultural diversity.

All doctoral students must maintain a full-time course load. Waiving required courses will be approved only in exceptional situations. Transfer coursework from another accredited doctoral program will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Requirements

A Master’s degree either in an environmentally related field or in a field that has prepared the applicant to undertake research required in the PhD program.

In extraordinary circumstances, when the applicant can demonstrate significant life or professional experience, any of the aforementioned requirements may be waived by the Doctoral Admissions Committee.

The Department of Environmental Studies does not require the GRE or any other standardized test for admissions. We consider all of your application materials, and invite you to demonstrate your academic potential in a variety of ways.

Portfolio

The Doctoral Program in Environmental Studies requires an application portfolio which must be received by application deadline.

The application portfolio includes seven documents:

Application, which provides the most recent information about your education, professional experience, references, and other personal data.

Transcripts from each college or university attended, indicating courses taken and degrees earned. Both undergraduate and graduate school transcripts must arrive at the Office of Admissions in a sealed envelope or sent via secure transcripts email service.

Three letters of reference. These references should be from persons who are or have been in a position to evaluate your work. Your recommenders can submit their letter electronically using the online application or send a signed, sealed copy directly to Admissions.

Resumé

Personal statement

Academic Plan. Prepare a narrative outline of your academic interests, including the principal areas of study, the seminal literature you may read, and some research ideas that flow from these interests. Briefly describe your initial ideas regarding the doctoral dissertation. We understand that these are initial ideas that will be revised throughout your program.

Work sample. This should be one piece of professional or academic work that you think is representative of your finest efforts. It might be a published essay or a chapter of a book, a curriculum, a grant proposal, a business plan, a strategic plan, a newsletter, or other types of documents. The submitted document should not exceed fifteen pages in length. If your document is longer, please excerpt the most relevant section.

Tuition & Financial Aid

A Doctoral education is an investment in your future. Let us help you understand the costs and explore the resources available to help make your college education even more affordable. The majority of AUNE students finance their education through some form of financial aid. You may not be sure which federal, state, public and private aid packages – such as loans, scholarships, and grants—are right for you. Our staff is here to help you, so you can focus on what’s most important: beginning your academic program at AUNE.